Wage cuts saved Rangers from 'decimation' - Clark

11 March 2012 08:17

Rangers would have been 'decimated' by the loss of 20 players if the first-team squad had not agreed to pay cuts, the beleaguered club's administrator Paul Clark said on Sunday.

Clark also revealed there has been interest from America and the Far East in taking over the club and called for all potential buyers to "put their money where their mouth is".

Mass redundancies were prevented on Friday when all players accepted wage cuts of up to 75 percent for the rest of the season, while Mervan Celik and Gregg Wylde left voluntarily.

Clark told Sunday newspapers: "We were looking at the decimation of the squad.

"There was mention over the last week of between eight and 11 players being made redundant had the players not taken pay cuts.

"If we'd made eight to 11 redundancies we would have still needed 50 percent pay cuts from the players who remained.

"If those cuts hadn't been made, and I couldn't do the sums until now, we would have been looking at cuts of up to 20 players in total."

Bids meanwhile are being invited in a bid to save the stricken Scottish champions and Clark is eager to identify "serious" suitors as soon as possible.

Clark told the club's website: "What we want is to have only serious bidders left by the end of the week.

"So anybody who has just been talking - and there are a few out there who have done a lot of talking - we want to seek them out and, as it were, put their money where their mouth is.

"Let's get them round a table so we know how many parties we've got. I don't care how many bidders we end up with but I want to know who they are, what they are and what their worth is, so then we can have more serious conversations about achieving the end goal which is to get Rangers under new ownership."

Clark added: "I don't want to be specific about bidders but there is at least one party from the Far East and we've had some interest as well from the American continent.

"We're talking about Scotland, wider UK and some overseas parties. There's been a number of meetings over the last few days and more planned for next week.

"I've got two calls to two different parties over the weekend. We have an online data room for those parties so they can go in and take information over and above what we've told them in our meetings.

Administrators were called in on February 14 after British tax authorities went to court to seek payment of an unpaid bill of Â£9 million ($14m) built up since owner Craig Whyte took charge at Ibrox in May.

Administration meant the Scottish champions were docked 10 points -- a move that effectively handed this season's Scottish Premier League title to arch Glasgow rivals Celtic.